Author of the pannel next to the main entrance unknown (1960s)
Author of the lobby’s pannel Lepo Mikko (1964)
Author of the sculpture Tuum in front of the building Henriete Nuusberg-Tugi (1967)
Author of the café’s pannel Raul Meel (1980)
The building is architectural monument no. 28 339, Lepo Mikko’s pannel is listed as cultural monument no. 1566

The Estonian SSR Academy of Sciences Central Library was built in the years 1959–1962. Its architects were Uno Tölpus and Paul Madalik, and the interior design authors were Paul Madalik and interior architect Leila Pärtelpoeg. The library was the political and ideological centre of the city, as it included Estonia Theatre, the building of the Academy of Sciences institutes, House of Political Education, glorious so-called scientists’ houses, and a Lenin statue. Later on, the main building of the Estonian Communist Party, and the new House of Political Education aka Sakala Centre also merged.

The Academy of Sciences was more than a mere expression of rank in the Soviet Union. Unlike the West, where scientific research was mainly conducted in universities, the research activity in the Soviet Union agglomerated into the institutes of the Academy of Sciences. Because of this, a number of open-minded exact science and humanitarian specialists moved around the corridors, as they had a special permit granting access to the forbidden literature otherwise hidden away in the library. Progressive art displays took place in the lobby, some of the pieces being shamelessly avant-garde or even ironic concerning the current regime.

The building is one of the best preserved 1960s modernist structures with a public function in Tallinn, incorporating culturally valuable elements characteristic of the time in the exterior, interior, and landscaping. On the square in front of the entrance stands the modest decorative sculpture Tuum (“Nucleus”), which was one of the first outdoor sculptures with an abstract character in Tallinn. The matter of the scientific-technical revolution, which was characteristic of the time, was reflected by the mural next to the entrance. When space-related themes went out of fashion in the 1970s, the mural was plastered over, only to be rediscovered due to renovation works in 2005. The lobby of the library contains Lepo Mikko’s ceramic pannel, also inspired by the scientific-technical revolution. It was the only public space artwork created by Mikko, who taught the basics of monumental painting in the Estonian Academy of Arts. After more than ten years of operation, a panel painting was commissioned from Raul Meel to decorate one of the walls in the library’s café. It was one of the first abstract paintings in the design of Estonian public space. While the interior design of the sixties has been preserved as much as possible in the rest of the building, the round table, seating furniture and ceiling lamps of the 1980s have been carefully preserved in the café after the last large-scale renovation works.

Gregor Taul